Baseball's Attendance Problem

Baseball attendance at big league parks was down this year across the country. This is getting to be a regular thing. Ticket sales cost clubs between a third to a fifth of their yearly revenue. The article I read didn’t specify what the largest revenue generator was, but we can imagine broadcast rights are probably the big winner. But everything from concessions to parking to merchandising goes into the mix for most teams. As to why people aren’t going to games anymore, we’re getting kinda lazy.  

 Actually going to the game can be a hassle for a lot of people. Depending on where you live, just getting to the ball park can be an all day ordeal a lot of people would rather not deal with. If you drove, the parking ticket will come with a hefty fee as will the food and beer you consume while there. If you get bad seats you’ll struggle to follow the game and instead end up watching the screen for replays. Watching at home provides the best angles for unfolding plays, up close zooms, replays. Recording allows you to grab a snack, use the bathroom and check laundry. The sharpness of the cameras gets better every few years, as does the amount of cameras on the field. If you’re looking to watch a game, there really isn’t a better option than TV.

The stay at home trend isn’t just popular in baseball either. I passed by a sign for Outback Steakhouse today that advertised delivery. Uber added a delivery service (Uber Eats) for food as well. Just call up your favorite restaurant and send a driver around to get it for you. Consumers do this with groceries as well. It shouldn’t be a stretch to assume, some people are much more comfortable at home.

That only accounts for a portion of the people though. Some like the atmosphere of the stadium and roar of the crowd after a home run. Watching live sports doesn’t guarantee the best viewing. It does promise an experience you won’t get hanging out at home. Anytime I went to a Cubs game I took the opportunity to spend the day in Chicago shopping and eating. The rule of thumb is that getting out of the city right after a game is the worst time to leave, St. Louis is much better. For those that live in Chicago the train (elevated train) stops right at the park. I rarely got great seats and the food was expensive, but nothing beats hearing 40,000 fans roaring after a home run.

 People aren’t as interested in baseball anymore. The ratings prove we don’t watch in nearly the same numbers as we used to. World Series TV numbers have mostly shown decline over the last decade, with the Cubs getting a ratings bump in 2016.  The largest group of baseball fans (half) are 55 or older. This is a problem long term. Every sport needs to ensure that it has enough replacement fans down the road. Most kids think baseball is too slow though. Who can blame them, compared to most other sports it is.

Purists’ think the lack of a clock is the best part of the game. You play until the outs are recorded and not before nine innings, as long as someone is leading after nine. Major League Baseball put in some replay cameras to overrule bad calls by the umpires. There are limits on how often managers can insist on going to the replays, just like the NFL, but it does increase the overall time. By putting in cameras and replays, they hope to cut down on human error and give managers more options to override accidental calls. It’s also an attempt to update the game a little. MLB is by far the most resistant to change of any of the top sports leagues. Being the last to put in technology and update rules isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but in the marketplace it can also be costly when trying to bring on additional fans. 

I’m not convinced that changing rules and speeding up the game ever so slightly will cause droves of new fans to start watching. If baseball isn’t a game for the modern day, no amount of tweaks and rule changes are going help. Baseball execs are going to have to figure out how to appeal to the largest number of fans.

They will always be a market for professional baseball on some level. It might look different in 20 years. Some cities that maintain ball clubs do so at a loss; both Florida teams struggle to bring people to the stadium. Maybe the best way forward is to cut a handful of teams that drag everyone else down. I am looking at you Tampa Bay. Since teams share revenues, fewer games means more money for the existing clubs and better overall competition.

The truth is that most clubs don’t need huge numbers of fans to go to the games. Of course they would rather sell both tickets to the park and cable packages but they make more money from content (TV, internet) deals by far. Going to at least a couple games a year can turn someone into a fan for life though. Despite the hassles of parking, traffic, expensive food, obnoxious fans and bad weather, it is so worth it. Even if you get to see the game better from home, go at least once.